Nail distributor



y 1935. o. L. SMITH 2,006,486

NAIL DISTRIBUTOR Filed March 14, 1932 Fig. 1. I h

Patented July 5 Em oFFlfcE 7 NAIL DISTRIBUTOR oral, L. s ith,- Swampseott, Ma s, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson,

J., a corporation of New Jersey I #CApplication March 14, 1932, Serial No: 598,632

A I Claims. -Thisinvention relates to the class of apparatus, commonly termednail-distributors, which effect the delivery-ofnails in successive loads, each containing a predetermined number I and 5 with their heads and points definitely arranged.

It is an object of my invention to render the deliveryfrorn the apparatus more reliable, especially when-short nails arebeing operated upon, andto increasethe ease of actuation of certain elements. r A feature of my invention leading to the attainment of this; object involves novel means for positioning the nails in their travel through the apparatus-especially having to do-with the re- -Versal-0f-nails which arenot arranged as desired." One of two associated nail-supporting members, for example a nail-conveyor or raceway 1 and -'a reversing device above-which the points of the nails descending the raceway are directed, is'provided -.witli-' means as a depression formed in it, this acting upon the heads of the nails to presentthe points above the nail-sup. porting surface of theiothen member. In the illustrated embodiment'of the invention, a downwardly inclined racewayhas upper and lower sections, in which are nail-conductinggrooves with anail-reversing bar extending above. the upper portion ofthe lower raceway, there being depressions in the gro'ovesof the upper raceway adjacent to. its lower extremity to receive the headsiof the nails. When nailsareproceeding down the. upper sectionspoints first and .it'. is desired to reversethem at the bar, the nailheads enter the depressions. This lowering. of the heads insuresthe passage of said points above the bar and their deflection heads-down. to'the lower raceway-section. v

A further feature io'f-the invention concerns the controlling f the=delivery of the nails-from thedistributor. With a movable discharge .device-which may be anv oscillatory roll,"I combine a bar or other stop member arranged for contact with nails resting upon such. device and movable. transversely .of "the discharged nails, the-movement being effectedpreferably by such means as a cam movable withthe discharge device. The stop member isherein shown as piv- :oted above the discharge device at its opposite extremities, being mounted upon arms turning lupon the nail-conveyor, at the deIiVery-end. of which the discharge .device is located. In the preferred roll-form of this discharge device, .it is provided with passages for the nails and with -:a surface over which said nails are delivered.

Thea-stop member coribanislmovable toward and tion through the raceway at the depressions.'-

section It of the conveyor heads first overbal ance at the end of said section, without en- .upper section, may beiso directed downwardly fromthis surface to either retain the. nails-in the passages 'orto permit their delivery therefrom. .The stop, by this delivery-movement, is carried wholly clear of the roll, leaving no space in which nails are liable to catch and clog. The manner of mounting the stop member is such' that it'oifers little resistance to movement, ab-

sorbing but a small amount of power. To adapt the organization for satisfactory operation upon nails or different lengths, the stop memberis 10 variable as to its normal position, as by adju tably pivoting itupon its-carrier-arms' For the purpose of disclosingmy invention, a particular form is illustrated in theacc'ompany ing drawing, in which i Fig. .1 shows in broken side elevation a naildistributor embodying the invention;

a Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional detail. at the reversing bar; Fig.3, an enlarged broken side elevation of the stop' member and'its mounting; e

Fig. 4, a broken front elevation of said stop member; and i Fig. 5 isan enlargedtransverse vertical sec+ .aGenerally, the organization may be as in Letters-Patent of the United States No, 1,005,303, PopepOctoberlO, 1911. ,The nailstolbe fed are delivered from a rotary drum Hl upona down- V wardly inclined vibratory conveyor or raceway 30 I? movable upon. a frame 14, in which raceway are a series ofparallel nail-conducting grooves .I.B,.each of which is V-shaped in cross-section.

The racewayi is divided into upper and lower sections l8'and 2t, respectively, and between these sections is a reversing device furnished by a lb'arzz extending across the'upper extremity of the lower section adjacent :to, the delivery-end-of the :upper section. Nails traveling down. the

gagement with the reversing bar, and continue ,on their way, along the section 29. When the lighter portion or point ofa nail is .in advance, it should pass above the bar and be .held up by a suriace 2i tt-hereon, so, when the headleaves the upper section, it falls and] the nail is reversed,

causing all those upon the lower section to lie inthe'same direction. It is found, however, that. whenshort nails of the character of that shown atN in Fig. '2, having, heads of considerable diameters, are advanced points first ,alongan upper raceway section having a uniformly. in-

clined surface, said points, upon leaving. the

lie below the upper surface of the bar, in position to contact with its rear wall. In such case, they fall and proceed points first over the lower sec- .tion and are thus delivered in the wrong relation. This cannot be successfully overcome by adjustment of the reversing bar closer to the end of the upper raceway-section, because the nails having their heads in advance may then catch upon the bar and be incorrectly reversed. I overcome this tendency oi. the nail-points to fail to bridge the space between the racewayend and the top of the reversing bar, by forming in each wall of the V-grooves of section l8 a depression 26 which, at its portion of maximum depth is located at a distance from the juncture of the nail-point-supporting surface 24 with the rear wall of the bar somewhat greater than the length of the short nails which are likely to be misfed.v The depth of each depression is preferably somewhat less than that of the groove, and such that the descent of the heads into it will elevate the points and prevent them from being directed downwardly as they pass beyond the section I8, so as they approach the bar, said points travel above the surface 24. The forward ends are thus supported so the reversal is effected, and short as well as long nails are all receivedheads first upon the lower raceway-section. Due to the fact that the apex of the V-.

groove IS in each raceway is preserved below the depression 25, control is maintained of both out nails and the points of headednails as they travel through the depression. This guards against their lateral displacement. v

At the end of the raceway-section 20, the delivery of the nails in successive groups is controlled by a discharge-device. This may consist of the well-known roll 28 journaled at opposite sides of the section. An example of a dis charge-device of this type may be seen in Letters Patent of the United States No; 1,558,481,

Hudson, October 27, 1925. In the rollis a series of passages 30, one normally alined with each raceway-groove IS. The forward extremities of the passages open through an approximately vertical surface 32 at one side of a sector-shaped space in the roll. At the other side of the space isa surface'34 continuing the passages '30 and supporting the nails as they are delivered. The roll is operated between the position shown'in Fig. 3 of the drawing, in which the nails are received from the conveyor-grooves, to one in which the surface 34 is so inclined downwardly that the nails are discharged into tubes 36, by connections 31 actuated by a cam 38 upon a power-shaft 4!! of the apparatus. To retain the nails in the first-mentioned position of the roll, ready for delivery when its anti-clockwise movement occurs, a stop member is provided. Rotatably mounted upon the delivery-end of the raceway-section is a shaft 42 having fast upon each extremity an arm 44. Arranged to turn in the arms above the discharge-roll 28 is a spindle 46, to which is secureda bar 48 with its lower edge lying normally in proximity to the roll-sur face 34. The position of this edge from front to rear of the surface is determined by a contact- -screw 50 threaded through an arm 52 clamped to the spindle near one end. 'A torsion-spring 54, connected to the opposite end of the spindle, urges the screw against the upper surface of a -boss,5.6 projecting from the inner side of the adjacent arm 44. The location of the axis of the spindle 46 longitudinally of the apparatus and its distance above the discharge-roll-surface 34 are such that the lower edge of the bar 48 is caused to move in a path closely paralleling said roll-surface. The bar may thus be carried toward and from the inner extremities of the nail-passages 30, adapting it to stop nails of different lengths in the'proper relation to the end of the raceway-section 20 to allow their delivery upon the oscillation of the roll while the succeeding nails are retained upon the raceway. For this delivery, the stop-bar 48 should be removed from the path of the nails which are to descend over the surface 34. This is preferably accomplishedby swinging up the arms 44 about the axis'of the-shaft42 in the proper time-relationto the oscillation of the roll. I have shown this as accomplished by a cam-projection 58 upon the discharge-roll 28, the end of the projection engaging a contact-surface 50 upon the under side of one of the arms 44. The edge of the bar is thereby carried away from the surface 34 transversely of the path of the nails almost at right angles to it, completely freeing said surface for the discharge, and leaving no retaining wall against which said nails may accumu-r late and clog the apparatus. Moreover, the bar its movement is slight, it operating smoothly,

without danger of cramping, with minimum wear 1 and requiring the application of little power.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: r

1. In a nail-distributor, associated nail-supporting members separated by a space bridged by the nails as they travel from one member to the other, one of the members having a depression arranged to receive the heads only of the nails and thereby present the points above the plane of the nail-supporting surface of. the other member. 1 a V U 2. In a nail-distributor; associated nail-supe porting members separated by a space bridged by the nails as they travel from one member to the other, one ofthe members being provided with meansarranged to act upon the heads of the nails only to present the points above the plane of the nail-supporting surface of the other member.

,3. In a nail-distributor, a raceway provided with positioning means arranged to lower the heads of nails traveling along the raceway, and a reversing device having a rear wall above which the points of the nails pass while; they are under the influence of the positioning means and a surface extending forwardly from said wall to receive. the points of the nails.

4. In a'nail-distributonsa groovedraceway in which is a depression in the walls of the groove, and a reversing device beneath which pass nails delivered from theraceway and above which the points of the nails are directed while the heads are in the depression.

'5. In a nail-distributor, a downwardly inclined raceway having upper and lower sections in which are nail-conducting grooves, there being means associated with each groove arranged to lower the heads of the nails, and a nail-reversing device above which pass the points of the thus-positioned nails.

into and out of nail-retaining relation to the dis- 7. In a nail-distributor, a discharge device movable to deliver nailstherefrom, a nail-stop ar-, ranged for contact with nails resting upon the discharge device, said stop being movab1etransversely of the nails upon the dischargedevice, and means for moving the stop to free the nails for delivery from the discharge device 8. In a nail-distributor, a discharge device movable to deliver nails therefrom, a nail-stop having a bar situated above and extending longitudinally of the discharge device, the stop-bar being movable transversely of the nails'upon the discharge device, and means movable with the discharge device for moving'the stop-bar away from.

the discharge'device to free the nails for delivery.

9. In a nail-distributor, a discharge device movable to deliver nails therefrom, a nail-stop co-operating with the discharge device, said stop being movable transversely of the nails upon the discharge device, means for moving the stop to free the nails for delivery, and means arranged to vary the normalrelation of the stop to the dis- 7 charge device, and means arranged to vary the position of the bar upon the arms.

12. In. a nail-distributor, a nail-conveyor, a discharge device co-operating with the deliveryend of the conveyor, arms pivoted upon the conveyor, a stop-bar pivoted upon the arms, and means arranged to adjust the position of the bar upon its pivots.

13. In a nail-distributor, a raceway, an oscillatory discharge-roll having passages to receive the nails from the raceway and a surface over whichthe nails are delivered from the passages,

an arm pivoted at each side of the raceway, a

stop-bar carried by the arms above the roll-surface to move across the ends of the passages,

and a cam turned with the discharge-roll and acting upon'one of the arms.

14. In a nail-distributor, a raceway, an oscillatory discharge-roll having passages to receive the nails from the raceway and a surface over which the nails are delivered from the passages, an arm pivoted at each side of the raceway,a stop-bar pivoted upon the arms, and means arranged to vary the angle of thestop-bar about its pivots. 15. In a nail-distributor, a raceway, a movable discharge-roll co-operating with the raceway,

arms pivoted at opposite sides of the raceway, a stop-bar pivoted upon the arms and co-operating with the discharge-roll, a contact member arranged to determine the normalangle of the bar about its pivots, and a spring for maintaining V the contact of said member,

' ORIN L. SMITH. 

